Jeff Hardy continues to deal with the U.S. legal system, his brother Matt tries to get himself over and Atlanta throws their name in the hat for the Olympics…I mean WrestleMania.
Opening Witty Banter
Hell in a Cell is in the books and on paper produced pretty middling results. Undertaker is back on top of the SmackDown mountain and Randy Orton became WWE Champion for a fourth time, which looks to continue the cycle of Cena-Orton matches. Anyways I’m already looking ahead to next weekend and a much needed visit to my old college stomping grounds so let’s put this to bed so I too can go to bed.
Let’s take some ‘E…
The News of the Week
On September 30 Jeff Hardy attended his first court hearing regarding his September 11 arrest. This first meeting did not reveal much information. It is only known that Hardy will return to court on November 14 for a probable cause hearing. The hearing will he held in the Moore County Criminal District Court in Carthage, North Carolina. This hearing will determine if a crime was committed, and if Hardy did indeed commit the crimes he was charged with.
If at that November hearing the judge finds probable cause that Hardy committed these crimes, then the case will proceed to a grand jury. A grand jury would review evidence of the case and decide on indictment of charges. If Hardy were to be indicted, the case would then move up to a superior court, where he would be tried on the charges.
All I can say as at this point it looks as if Hardy is far from being out of the woods.
Speaking of the brothers Hardy, Matt made some “cryptic” remarks on his Twitter this past week:
“I am exhausted from being punished because of someone else’s sins. Good night one, good night all! Until then..”
“Almost home.. The media is so not on the pulse of anything, it’s just another avenue of entertainment looking for bigger numbers from viewers.”
Naturally the wrestling media jumped all over it thinking it was Jeff and how Matt hasn’t been featured on TV since his brother’s arrest.
He then clarified things on his MySpace:
“Last night, since almost every WWE personality was in Boston for The Decade Of Smackdown show, we all went out to eat after the show last night. A hug tab ended up being comped, which was very cool. Everyone was gonna leave generous tips because the meal was free obviously, and we wanted to take great care of our servers. I was one of the last ones to leave, and was figuring up the tip. The tip wasn’t as good as I would have liked it to have been from a couple of the guys. So I left a large tip at the end, extremely big. I joked and said it was a sin I had to pay for other people’s mistakes and cheapness. I told a couple of my closest WWE friends that if I posted a tweet rephrasing the situation as “I am exhausted from being punished because of someone else’s sins”, that the wrestling media would pick that comment up and run with it as something completely different. Low and behold, almost every site did. Not surprising, it’s what I suspected. Just another example of how they’re looking for any comment they can to translate however into hits for their site and reader views. So take it from me, don’t believe everything you read-fact is rarely separated from fiction when it comes to any branch of the “media entertainment market.”
Is there any bigger mark for himself in the wrestling business than Matt Hardy?
Rumors have been swirling all week that Bret Hart has talked about perhaps returning to WWE for a one-off appearance or in a limited non-physical role.
As a huge Bret mark I would love to see this with all my heart, but I’ll believe it when he’s standing on the RAW ramp.
According to The Atlanta Business Chronicle, Atlanta has made an official bid to host WrestleMania 27 in 2011 in the Georgia Dome. The city is trying to position themselves as a possible host city for the event every four to six years.
I love, love how cities are now bidding for WrestleMania like any other major sporting event. It just shows the branding power of WWE and the WrestleMania name.
ECW GM Tiffany was not in a car accident as claimed on this week’s ECW. She actually broke her humerus during last Thursday’s FCW TV taping in Florida. The car accident is the storyline explanation for her injury. Tiffany confirmed the injury via her Twitter.
It’s too bad Tiffany got injured as she was slowly growing into her admittedly big role on TV. Here’s hoping she can pick up where she left off when she returns.
According to Variety, MyNetworkTV has officially been downgraded and no longer considered a network. This is due to the fact that they have no original programming other than SmackDown. Due to this change, the ratings for the channel will be reported on a weekly basis as a part of the Neilson syndicated report instead of daily.
So SmackDown is essentially a syndicated show now? Now wonder they pulled all the big guns off the program.
New details have come out regarding The Marine 2, which stars Ted DiBiase Jr. The plot is that DiBiase is a marine recon sniper named Joe Linwood. Joe and his wife head to a resort in Thailand, which happens to be taken over by terrorists. The terrorists take hostages, one of course who is Linwood’s wife, and look for ransom in return for the lives of the hostages. Linwood must use his military training to rescue his wife and the others. The film is said to be “based on a true story”.
DVD extras will include a profile on DiBiase, deleted and extended scenes, the making of the “Terrorist Siege sequence,” a piece on filming in Thailand and “Behind the Scenes: Fight Scenesâ€
All I have to say is that John Triton is a way cooler name than Joe Linwood.
The InDemand preview for the upcoming Bragging Rights pay per view includes the following line: “Bragging Rights are on the line in a special SmackDown vs. Raw tag-team main event featuring winners of the night’s matches.”
So far it seems as if the show will be special RAW versus SmackDown matches, which I think is a great gimmick match in and of itself being the brand expansion is adhered to much more closely these days. And if they end the show with an old school Ultimate Survivor match then this show is a win in my book.
Wrestler of the Week
Week of September 28 – October 4: Randy Orton
Even with the never ending WWE Title cycle between Orton, Cena and Triple, a World Championship win is still a win in my book so I have to give some love to Orton for becoming a four time WWE Champion. Remember when that was a hard thing to do? At any rate he looks to have plenty of challengers awaiting him besides Cena, with both members of DX, MVP and Mark Henry all ready to make a challenge.
RAW’s On Tonight!
The WWE Monday Night RAW guest-hosting gimmick rolls on in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, as Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will be running the show. The two-time Super Bowl champion will be there to promote his own Ben Roethlisberger Foundation. According to the mission statement, “The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation seeks to (a): provide support for police and fire departments throughout the US with a particular emphasis on service dogs and (b): to enhance the quality of life for residents of Findlay, Ohio and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.” As an added bonus it was announced that he is bringing his entire Steelers offensive line with him to the show as backup. Roethlisberger should provide for a fun show at the very least. He will have a hometown(ish) crowd supporting him, and he is the type of superstar professional athlete that has the charisma to draw people in, much like Shaquille O’Neal. As for the rest of the show I have no earthly idea, but I’m sure will make an address about the regaining of his championship. Kofi will continue to get hounded by Swagger and Miz, Cena will talk about losing the Championship and DX will be up to their crazy antics.
On Last Week’s Episode…
Eison covers the SmackDown tenth anniversary special, highlighted by a great eight man tag match, a super fun Rock promo, Funaki and Yoshi Tatsu on karaoke and VINTAGE~! Michael Cole.
Eison also takes the reigns for Superstars.
Innarelli and Bones talk about a fun ECW broadcast that featured an eight man tag match; something WWE does very well.
Marshall brings the love for Al Sharpton’s controversial RAW.
How They Rated
Superstars (9.24.09) – .8
SmackDown! (9.25.09) – 1.9
A.M. RAW (9.27.09) – .9
RAW (9.28.09) – 3.1
ECW (9.29.09) – 1.0
This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
Hack scours the indys so you don’t have to.
Wheeler continues to bring the awesome RAW rants.
Glazer gets controversial in this latest Modest Response.
In Case You Didn’t Spend the $40
PK handled exclusive Hell in a Cell coverage for the Pulse.
Here’s the quick ‘n’ dirty:
In the dark match, Matt Hardy pinned Mike Knox with a Twist of Fate
In the opening match, The Undertaker pinned CM Punk with a Tombstone to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
John Morrison retained his Intercontinental Title over Dolph Ziggler after hitting Starship Pain.
Mickie James retained her WWE Divas Championship over Alicia Fox after hitting her Primal DDT.
WWE Unified Tag Team Champions The Big Show & Chris Jericho retained their Championships over Batista and Rey Mysterio after Big Show hit Mysterio with a right hand.
Randy Orton pinned John Cena to win the WWE Championship after punting him in the head.
Drew McEntyre pinned R-Truth after a butterfly DDT.
Kofi Kingston retained his United States Championship over both The Miz and Jack Swagger in a triple threat match after hitting his Trouble in Paradise kick on The Miz.
In the main event, DeGeneration X (Triple H & Shawn Michaels) beat Legacy (Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase) after DX hit Rhodes with Sweet Chin Music and shot from a sledgehammer.
IP Staff Roundtable Results for WWE Hell in a Cell
The staff got together to talk Hell in a Cell and here was what our expert analysis revealed. The R-Truth-Drew McEntyre match was added at the eleventh hour and many of us didn’t get our picks in time for that match, which hurt the bottom line. Plus everyone was divided on the World, US and Intercontinental Title match, which makes for fun roundtables but dicey winning averages. And everyone picked Mickie James to win, because really? Alicia Fox? Really?
Roundtable Champion – Tess Nolde: 6-2 (16-15)
Props to Tess being the only to pick Orton winning the WWE Championship, which put her over the top of everyone else.
The rest:
Mark Allen: 5-3 (177-92)
Paul Marshall: 5-3 (130-92)
Raffi Shamir: 5-3 (112-89)
Brad Curran: 4-4 (77-52)
Brian Eison: 4-4 (18-13)
Michael O’Mahony: 4-4 (17-14)
Andrew Wheeler: 4-4 (146-93)
Matthew Michaels: 3-5 (179-152)
Roy Reynolds: 3-5 (24-15)
For more relevant, interesting and exciting wrestling information from your truly, check out my gig as the Pro Wrestling Examiner over at Examiner.com.
